On the occasion of the recent incident that took place a few days ago in Parnitha, when a wolf attacked a dog, accompanied, in fact, by the owner and his daughter, the environmental organization Kallisto, which had warned in time about the dangers, issued a statement , which proposes immediate actions to address and prevent such phenomena.
In fact, the situation is considered urgent as the specialized scientist-member of the organization, Dr. G. Iliopoulos, estimated that we are probably in front of a phenomenon of adaptation of the species to anthropogenic environment and its familiarity with the human presence, which may have been caused by feeding the wildlife of the area, involuntarily or voluntarily – with the aim of photographing animals – something proven and can gradually lead to high familiarity and can result in wolf attacks on dogs or even injury to humans.
The immediate actions proposed by the organization, with the first and foremost the institutionalization of an action plan for the wolf in Greece, are summarized as follows:
A. PASSIVE TREATMENT:
1. Placement of automatic photographic recording devices at the points of appearance of wolves in order to estimate the frequency of their appearance and approach.
2. Informing the visitors heading to the central sector of the National Park (ED) using printed and short text that will be distributed on the spot, to avoid intentional or unintentional provision of food to wildlife, compliance with the regulations of the National Park regarding the presence dogs in areas within the ED, as the presence of dogs mobilizes intensely familiar – and not only – wolves to approach people and often attack their dogs. In addition, young children should not move unaccompanied for precautionary reasons.
3. Under no circumstances should the use of food to attract wolves to be photographed be allowed and tolerated as an activity, as it is another “reward” for approaching animals.
4. Recommendations for restricting pets – livestock and dogs in safe areas – within effective fencing during the night should also apply to neighboring settlements around the Forest.
5. Installation of lighting fixtures (eg traffic lights) at access points that should be moved regularly. Wolves are afraid or wary of anything new in an area (neophobia) for at least a while.
6. Investigation in the wider area – not only at the scene – to identify outbreaks of potentially man-made food, such as places where livestock carcasses or other animal remains are dumped, leftovers, open bins.
7. Careful collection of municipal waste in the approach area but also in the settlements around the ED, so that there is no rubbish outside the bins, especially at night.
8. Scheduled visits and patrols of forest officials and personnel of the management body in approaching areas as well as responding to citizens’ calls in cases of approaches.
B. ACTIVE TREATMENT:
Establishment and operation of an immediate intervention and repulsion team.
The active treatment consists in the application of secondary repulsion, ie painful stimulus in combination with the undesirable behavior of wolves. According to the organization, a strong and painful stimulus to the wolves should be produced when approaching them – and only in the areas and cases where we want to repel the animals – ie within residential areas (eg during the approach of wolves to “Buffy” shelter) with the use of flare launchers, crackers with track indicator, plastic bullets with 12mm carbine, shell crackers, paint ball launchers, use of loud noise generating devices, etc.
As Kallisto emphasizes, the implementation of these deterrent measures should be done with special attention to safety issues by properly trained personnel in the use of equipment and should be repetitive, for a sufficient period of time. There must always be an escape route for the animals. We do not repel in natural areas where the wolves do not disturb with their presence, otherwise the connection will be made with the person who repels and not with the space (what is interesting).
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